In those days, my computer was just a console for playing Dota.

In those years, I searched for source code for my graduation project.

It was during those years that I first learned that there was code hidden on the disc at the back of the book.

So I rely on this code successfully graduated, and brothers mutual way: “split the money, something TP!” , alone on the path of programmers.

That was my first taste of the power of source code before I stumbled into the GitHub world by accident. During this period, HelloGitHub, which I created, has shared more than 1900 open source projects and gained 4.9 million stars in five consecutive years.

Address: github.com/521xueweiha…

I also went from initially forking GitHub angrily when I couldn’t find the source code to later stumbling into GitHub’s door with a treasure trove of open source projects. Recalling the first time I put the open source project on the run, MY eyes were full of tears and I shouted to the sky: “If I had known how to do this, I would not have been overwhelmed by Bi set!”

As open source projects continue to grow in popularity, more and more people are interested in open source. Most people who are new to GitHub are looking for an interesting open source project, an open source project to solve a problem, or are attracted by it. However, when you are ready to experience an open source project, you may be stuck with problems such as not knowing how to download the project, not finding the Chinese version, not running, and running errors. You’ve got your hands on the GitHub door, but you can’t pull it open!

I’ve dealt with all of these issues in my early years at GitHub, and I know the feeling of helplessness and frustration. So here comes this article, hoping that my experience and summary can be helpful to you. At the same time, I also divided the article into two parts according to the difficulty of running open source projects: programming knowledge is required and programming knowledge is not required. Finally, I added some methods on how to quickly read documents and find answers to questions.

If you have tried to run an open source project more than once and failed. Whether you can program or not, read this article and you’ll kick down GitHub’s door!

I can’t program

“Things are made for people!” As long as you master the way to open it, you will have a handy tool.

There are plenty of open source projects out there that people want to try out, and most of them don’t require any extra work or knowledge to download. All you need to do to get started is find the download address. Here are a few common download points:

  • Releases: The project release page
  • Official website: click on it to see the download address
  • App Store: Search the Google Store (Android), App Store (macOS) with your App name

Here are some examples for details, as well as how to play online and how to find the Chinese version.

1.1 Releases

Releases are the release page for the GitHub project, which provides links to download various installation packages and the latest Releases. Like this project:

ShareX: A free Windows screenshot recording tool. Powerful support for full-screen screenshots, scrolling screenshots, detection window screenshots, GIF recording, screenshots also support to add text, watermark, special effects, Mosaic, etc. on the picture, and finally can be directly uploaded to the map bed to get links, smooth to complete the whole screenshot process.

The entry position of the Releases page is as follows:

Click in to see the installation package and source code compression package download address, select the package you want to download.

Exe (Windows),.dmg (macOS),.tar.gz (Linux), and.apk (Android).

1.2 website

Some open source projects don’t put the installation package on the Releases page, so you need to download it from the official website. Using VSCode as an example, it is common for open source projects to have their official website address prominently displayed (on the front page of the project), such as VSCode in the About section.

Enter the official website, download the address is greeted, but also automatically matched with the system.

Keywords: Download, Releases

1.3 Open can play

Some open source projects helpfully provide online previews and playtests, which you can click to play. Such as:

4. React+Redux+Immutable Tetris is a mutation-free tetris library. The online demo

The links of Online experience are generally in: About, Demo of project home page and official website, and Online

1.4 Do you have Chinese

While GitHub’s English projects account for a large part, there are also open source projects that provide Chinese descriptions, Chinese documentation, and Chinese versions. If you see a great open source book, tutorial, resource, or document on GitHub, look for a Chinese version. You can try to find the keywords in the project homepage and official website: Chinese, Chinese, zh, cn, for example:

Git-tips: a collection of commonly used git commands. The Chinese version

Summary: How to play GitHub open Source project without programming:

  1. Download the installation package: Releases and the official website
  2. Online experience: Demo, Online point open can be used
  3. Find Chinese keywords: Chinese, Chinese, zh, cn

Two, I can program

“Don’t reinvent the wheel” sound open source projects can save a lot of development time. Get up close and personal with the gods’ code, and you’ll get stronger. I’ll break this down into libraries, services, and projects, and I’ll walk you through how to install, deploy, and run each of them.

2.1 library

When you find a solution to a problem library, don’t rush to clone the project. Generally, open source libraries provide package manager installation commands for the programming language, which can be installed with a single command. Such as:

  • Python:pip install rich
  • Go:go get github.com/gorilla/websocket
  • Ruby:gem install ruby-pinyin
  • JavaScript:npm install echarts --save
  • , etc.

Or the CDN link corresponding to the front-end CSS and JS can be used directly.

Normalize.css: A CSS library used to remove the browser’s default styles. Different browsers have different default styles for the same element, such as the color of the hyperlink line. Instead of the reset solution, normalize.css takes a more peaceful and efficient approach to the problem of browser default styles, making the same CSS file look the same across browsers as much as possible.

CDN:cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/normali…

Key words: PIP, NPM, CDN, etc

2.2 services

By “services,” I mean basic services such as databases, caching, and search, which open source projects provide detailed installation options for different operating systems. Such as:

Meilisearch: A lightweight open source search engine written by Rust.

Deployment mode:

  • MacOS:brew update && brew install meilisearch
  • Docker:docker run -p 7700:7700 -v "$(pwd)/data.ms:/data.ms" getmeili/meilisearch
  • Linux:curl -L https://install.meilisearch.com | sh

Key words: install, brew, docker, curl, apt, yum, etc

2.3 the project

In fact, projects (complete applications) are mostly made up of libraries and basic services, so to get an open source project off the ground, there are three simple steps:

  1. Install dependent libraries and services
  2. Initial Configuration
  3. Find the startup portal

Here’s an example of a Web project:

Wagtail: Powerful open source Django CMS (Content management System). Focus on content management without tying up front-end implementations. StreamField is A fun technology that makes your content flexible and structured. It even supports A/B testing. Google and NASA use it.

Operation steps:

PIP install wagtail 2. Initialize project wagtail start mysite 3. PIP install -r requirements.txt 5. Python manage.py migrate 6. Create a new super administrator: Python manage.py createsuperuser 7. Start project: Python manage.py runServerCopy the code

Keywords: start, run, main, init, begin, server

Conclusion: Different programming language projects differ in deployment, installation, and operation, but you just need to remember the three key words to find the answer. If not, see the next section!

Three, the author left the answer

“Most of the problems you have have happened to other people.” Open source project authors open source projects, the first desire is to be used. So, if you have a problem with using it, look for a solution the author left, and then ask if there are other people who have the same problem. If not, go to the source code to find the answer!

3.1 document

The front page of a project is full of key information, usually just links to documentation and snippets of sample code.

If the information on the front page isn’t enough, look for solutions in the documentation:

  1. A quick start to a complete document review, jotting down common functions and features (getting started)
  2. Look at the document with the problem in mind, make use of the document search function, search the keywords of the problem (encountered problems)

Keywords: Document, doc, wiki, example, demo, usage

3.2 Issues

Issues is the GitHub project’s questions page, where the author will reply to your questions. If you have a problem, don’t rush to ask a question. Do a search on issues to see if the same question has already been asked, and you may find a solution.

The more information you provide about the system, the environment, the anomaly, what you’ve tried, the more accurate the answer will be, and you can take the question back to the search engine to try your luck.

Keywords: issues, error, fail, close

3.3 Find the answer in the source code

There are no secrets in the source code, and the author will leave clues in the comments to help you find answers to your questions. No need to download and install plug-ins, just 2 steps to read the source code online:

  1. Switch the input method to English
  2. Press on the project home page.

Conclusion: The fastest way to find a question is not to ask, but to find the “answer page”. Every problem you encounter is a stepping stone to becoming stronger. With more patience, more experimentation, and fewer questions, you will be better at solving problems and running open source projects.

The last

That’s all I have to say about how to Get a GitHub Project running. Those years I stepped on the pit, I hope you can easily through this article.

Find open source projects that won’t play or work in years to see if the methods described in this article work. If not, go to HelloGitHub to find interesting open source projects!

GitHub is slow to access and cannot be accessed.

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